Kerr Smith Vs. the Valentine Killer!

Darkly-handsome actor Kerr Smith, who most recently appeared on the TV show "Eli Stone," caught our eye in the early 2000's as troubled Jack McPhee on that first of the teen-angst dramas "Dawson's Creek". Kerr also had a running role on the popular "Charmed" and was a hero in horror flicks The Forsaken and Final Destination. We're glad to see that this hot cutie is back in the first big 3-D horror film for our new age My Bloody Valentine 3-D playing Sheriff Axel Palmer; a dude in the middle of a love triangle and a truckload of smalltown, gruesome murders. See, there is this pissed-off miner with a big pick axe... (Warning: This film is Rated R for gruesome violence and some nudity so make your filmgoing choice accordingly).

We sat down with Kerr near the UCLA campus in Westwood, Ca. to quiz him on making this frightening film on location in a creepy old mine in Pennsylvania (the cast and crew adopted a pet bat!). We wanted to know what it was like to shoot a film in modern 3-D, and what it was like for Kerr and co-star Jensen Ackles (of "Supernatural") to work together again after "Dawson's" so many years ago. What is Kerr doing next, which films scared him growing up and hey, what in life really scares him now?....

Kerr: Spiders.

TeenHollywood: You see a tiny one and it's ewwww?

Kerr: Tiny, big, it doesn't matter. Anything with more than four legs just freaks me out.

TeenHollywood: How many were in the mine?

Kerr: I didn't see any. I saw a couple of bats though which I'm not a huge fan of either but I can deal with a bat. Spiders, I actually run out of the room screaming like a little girl (he laughs).

TeenHollywood: How did you get involved in the project?

Kerr: It came about through the normal process. Patrick (Lussier, the director) brought me in I think, three or four times. It was a whole big process and I think at the beginning, he wasn't sure if he wanted to throw me in the Axel role or the Tom role (which Jensen Ackles ends up playing) and, for me, the character of Axel was so intriguing and that's what really attracted me to the project initially. He's got a lot going on and it's a lot to juggle and those are the fun roles to play.

TeenHollywood: He walks a tightrope and you don't know which side he's on. Axel could have gone either way.

Kerr: He could have gone either way and I did my best to try to keep that ball in the air the entire film. He's the sheriff of the town so it's his responsibility to find the killer. People think that he is the killer. From frame one of the film, his relationship with his wife sucks. He's cheating on his wife.

TeenHollywood: With a hot chick.

Kerr: (laughs) I know but that doesn't make it any better. It just makes it worse.

TeenHollywood: He's still insanely possessive of his wife (played by beautiful Jaime King).

Kerr: Well, who wouldn't be? Her high school sweetheart is back in town and what husband's gonna like that? He's second fiddle to his own wife. He's kind of gotten the girl by default.

TeenHollywood: What did he do to deserve all this?

Kerr: Humm, backstory. Let me think....

TeenHollywood: Had you seen the original 1981 version of this film?

Kerr: Absolutely but I did not watch it right before we started shooting. I waited until afterwards to give it another look.

TeenHollywood: Do you like the look of this 3-D one? I guess the new kind of 3- D film is the wave of the future.

Kerr: Oh man, it's unbelievable. It is more of a ride than I even expected. The whole 3-D element just brings a whole new deal to movie watching.

TeenHollywood: Was this shot in regular 2-D and then transferred to 3-D?

Kerr: No. We shot it in 3-D.

TeenHollywood: I don't think most teens really understand how that works. There are a couple of different cameras. As an actor, does 3-D change your marks? Does it change your performance?

Kerr: Performance-wise, no. Technically, yes. Shooting 3-D requires an enormous amount of light so you're looking at big, bright, hot lights and it takes a while to acclimate to that. When they're pulling convergence and they're bringing something through the screen, you have to hit your mark very precisely. The convergence puller has a very small margin of error with that. Aside from the fact that the process is still a little bit slower because of the amount of equipment and lights that are required, it is still a relatively new technology. It's a little bit slower but I think that will change over the years.

TeenHollywood: Did they have all the deaths planned out or did you come up with more creative kills on set?

Kerr: I think it was kind of planned and, because of the 3-D, every day we were exploring new ways to make shots more visually interesting. I think they tweaked the way people were getting killed.

TeenHollywood: Was there a scene cut from this? There was only one girl in the buff and you know how a lot of horror films are. Your character and his fun-on-the-side girlfriend Megan have a love shack. Did they cut a love scene?

Kerr: There is a 20 minute scene with me running around the police station buck naked (laughter). I'm just kidding! Nobody wants to see that. Yes there were some scenes cut, some funny scenes actually. I don't know the reason why. I saw them in the first cut and thought they certainly worked. It was probably a time issue just trying to tighten everything up. But, what you see was it for me and Megan in that scene.

TeenHollywood: Did you shoot anything extra or special for the DVD?

Kerr: There are alternate endings.

TeenHollywood: Do you prefer one of the alternates?

Kerr: No. I like this one. The ending to the original script is really funny. Axel is the killer and he's being held by (the killer miner) Harry Warden in his basement in caged bars and he's down there writing crazy poetry. It's the weirdest thing ever. Our writers got ahold of the first script and were like 'okay, let's just change all this around'.

TeenHollywood: What was it like shooting in the actual old mine in Pennsylvania? What was the vibe like for the cast?

Kerr: The mine was tough. The group that we put together is fantastic. We just had a really good time. Jensen and I knew each other from working together previously (on "Dawson's Creek") and Jaime and I got along immediately. She's just a real easy person to know. In terms of location; Kittanning and Ford City in Western Pennsylvania; small mining town. I felt like I was in a Stephen King novel. It was interesting.

TeenHollywood: But aren't you from Pennsylvania?

Kerr: I'm from Pennsylvania but sometimes I think maybe they should slice that state in half and just be two different states. I'm not saying bad. I'm just saying different. And, working in that mine was tough. It does not accommodate you and it's dangerous and it's dark and it's eerie and it's damp and it's a constant fifty-five degrees and you've got a lot of equipment and a lot of people. It was tough but I've got to tell you, we couldn't have done it on a soundstage.

TeenHollywood: I'll bet it really enhanced your performance to be there.

Kerr: Oh, completely. Being in the elements...I love shooting on location.

TeenHollywood: Did any safety issues or worries come to mind while working in the mine?

Kerr: Yeah, there's always that element. The further you walk into that mine, the scarier it gets. It's kind of weird but, in terms of rock falling down and things like that, it stopped being an operating mine in like 1955 or something like that. It's been used for educational purposes for the last thirty, forty years. They've been bringing kids in there for a long, long time with no mishaps so I was okay with it.

TeenHollywood: Did anything weird or scary happen while making the film?

Kerr: I don't think anything scary really happened. There weren't any ghosts in the mine but we did have a pet bat, a little baby bat, just hung out for three weeks straight and I don't think it moved. It was hanging on the ceiling so people were feeding it. Feeding it what, I don't know. I don't even want to know. I guess that was weird.

TeenHollywood: What was the name of the stuntman who played the miner/killer throughout the film?

Kerr: His name was Chris Carnel. He did a really good job with his body movement and the breathing. It was really good.

TeenHollywood: Did you have a stunt double?

Kerr: He was my stunt double. Took a couple of falls for me. But, I believe, everything you see in the movie stunt-wise was Jensen and I. That whole fight scene at the end, that was highly choreographed and we got out of that with minor scrapes and bruises.

TeenHollywood: But isn't it more fun, as an actor, to do the stunt action yourself?

Kerr: I love it. I didn't think they were going to allow us to do it. For insurance reasons, they usually don't. But, they did and I got a nice knot on the forehead one day. I'm gonna blame it on Jensen. Why not? I'm kidding. He brought the pick-axe into my head and I brought my head into the pick-axe.

TeenHollywood: Did you have a favorite horror movie growing up?

Kerr: I was one of those kids that really loved horror films but I was too young to watch them so my parents wouldn't let me but I snuck some tapes into the VCR at some point. I'm talking, aside from obviously Freddy, Jason, Michael, "American Werewolf in London", "The Beast Within" and "The Thing". Movies like that that didn't get as much recognition but, in my book, are fantastic.

TeenHollywood: You've performed in a lot of genres. Do you have a favorite?

Kerr: I really don't. My most favorite thing to do is to switch it up, just try and do something new every time.

TeenHollywood: You've switched it up on TV.

Kerr: Yeah. But, it's tough to get away from a doctor, lawyer or a cop these days. The last couple of roles I've done have been cops and lawyers. But I do my best.

TeenHollywood: What is up next for you?

Kerr: I leave for Vancouver tomorrow morning to shoot a pilot for The CW, called "Light Years". It's an hour-long dramady, I guess is how you would classify it.

TeenHollywood: Who do you play?

Kerr: I play a character called Ryan Scott and I'm doing it with Shiri Appleby (of the TV show "Roswell"). I have to (pronounce her name) right by tomorrow. We have a radio show and it's all about bantering about politics or any subject we can. But, behind the scenes, we're dating. In the pilot, I ask her to marry me. In the process of that, I find out she has a child that shows up out of nowhere that she gave away back in high school and this child is now fifteen-years-old.

TeenHollywood: It's every dude's nightmare (we laugh).

Kerr: I know. It is. And within lies the comedy and the father of the child is this degenerate kind of guy who shows up out of nowhere as well and calls up the radio show and says, 'hey, look, we've got a kid' and he comes in and I've just asked her to marry me and there's all this chaos. In the end we do get married and the three of us decide to raise this child. Me, the weirdo and Shiri.

TeenHollywood: So you are all "Light Years" apart?

Kerr: The child's, the girl's name is Lux and Lux means light. I don't know who plays her. This just happened a few days ago and I haven't done all my homework yet.

TeenHollywood: Do you think this movie will bring back some of the classic slasher movies that we haven't seen for a while?

Kerr: I think it might. I think a lot of people are going to want to go see this especially because of the 3-D element. I think Harry Warden has been sitting on the bench. Michael, Jason and Freddy have been running around on the playing field. I think it's time to put him in.

TeenHollywood: There hasn't been any new "blood" so to speak...as a horror icon.

Kerr: Yeah. Harry Warden, to me, is an iconic killer. What I like about him is he's mortal. You can knock this guy down. You can slow him down but he's gonna keep coming after you in an emotionless, remorseless, because of the mask, type of way. He doesn't care who you are or what you've done. He's gonna come after you.

TeenHollywood: Are they planning a sequel already?

Kerr: Yeah, they're talking about it, actually, already which is great and to answer your next question, 'yes, I'm in!'